Myeisha Essex is in love with all things pop culture, thanks in large part to her hometown. This Los Angeles native has an encyclopedic knowledge of the entertainment industry and she loves a good trivia game. She received her bachelor’s degree in journalism and media studies from Bennett College for Women and her master's from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Her work can be found in Sister 2 Sister, Harlem World Magazine, Clutch and on Essence.com. When she's not keeping up with the news or learning Beyonce's latest dance moves, she enjoys watching stand-up comedy on YouTube! Follow her on Instagram @more_about_me

Without a doubt, one of the most memorable moments from this years’s MTV Video Music Awards was the awkward introduction of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ live performance by A$AP Rocky and openly gay NBA baller Jason Collins.

If you missed the appearance, the Harlem rapper looked visibly uncomfortable onstage and even pointed to Collins, to add extra emphasis, when he said “homosexuality.” The moment sparked rumors that the A$AP Mob leader may be homophobic, but during a recent interview with The Stashed he said those allegations are totally false.

“I’m mad that my facial expressions was like that because I’m not homophobic at all, and that whole thing just came off real homophobic,” he explained. “I didn’t really notice it until I got home and saw it.”

“I apologize to Jason for that, because people was laughing and s–t, and you know… I really don’t think that’s funny,” he added. “I saw they were making all the memes and pictures and making fun of him. There’s people out there that think I was doing that to be funny, and truthfully I got gay people in my family. I don’t give a f–k if you gay or you not, I just found it odd that MTV wanted to stand me next to this n—a when they are talking about gay people, that’s all. You know what I’m saying?”

“That’s his business,” Rocky said. “I respect men more for coming out. People joke on Frank Ocean a lot but at least he’s not out here fronting. It’s a lot of people, a lot of motherf*ckers be out here, they be the closet motherf*ckers, you know? I don’t respect them. I respect gay men who identify it and who are out with it. I don’t have a problem with gay people at all. So it’s like, that’s his business. It don’t concern me. Number one, I barely get to watch basketball like that as it is. Number two, I don’t even know who this n*gga is that you talking about. Dead a**. He probably has ten times more money than me but I don’t know who he is. We got the Frank Ocean of the NBA now who came out and did what he had to do. Shout-outs to him.”